My system CPU Core i7 Extreme 965 @ 3.4GHz vcore 1.38125V Mainboard ASUS Rampage II Gene Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit RTM Driver ATI Catalyst 10.7 WHQL Driver NVIDIA 259.31 beta 64bit PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware Settings of Demo Mafia II ASUS GTX 460 1GB TOP @ 800/1600/1050 ASUS GTX 460 1GB TOP @ 800/1600/1050 + dedicated PhysX ASUS 9800 GT 512MB @ 600/1500/900 ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS 9800 GT 512MB @ 600/1500/900 ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS 9600 GT 512MB @ 650/1625/900 ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS GTX 285 TOP 1GB @ 670/1550/1300 ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS GTX 460 1GB TOP @ 775/1550/1000 power consumption (full load with demo Mafia 2) ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS 9800 GT 512MB @ 600/1500/900 + i7 965 @ 3.4GHz vcore 1.38125V power consumption (full load with demo Mafia 2) ASUS HD 5850 @ 800/1150 + dedicated PhysX ASUS 9600 GT 512MB @ 650/1625/900 + i7 965 @ 3.4GHz vcore 1.38125V Source : http://www.mafia2game.com/community/us/features_pc_specs.php Before, I was ever told : Now I declare that GT240 is the best dedicated PhysX card for Mafia II. Do you agree with me? Source : http://forum.amtech.com.vn/overclocking-benchmark/77014-vga-best-physx-card.html
Well I have a GT240 and so far I am pretty happy with it also in Mafia 2. I am not gettin big FPS numbers but its not so bad since everything is running real smooth. So with the experience I have right now I would agree and say go with the GT 240 but you should get the DDR5 model if you wanna pick one up! Cheers! :cheers: P.S.: Here some infos on my setup and settings for comparison... Oh and I only have one GT 240 not two as Everest is saying!
Based on those numbers above the 9600GT is the best for the price, i got mine for £30 and runs mafia 2 perfect.
any fermi card is 2.5x faster in PhysX processing than a GT200 chip. even more with older models. So now that the 450 has just been released, it is becoming closer to a good price/performance ratio for PhysX. You wont really need a dedicated PhysX card anymore until someone releases a massively PhysX-packed game like Batman AA again.
Overkill. Theres not much difference over 8800/9800/GTS250. I have stable fps with 1080 AA and high physics.
Thats not overkill. Thats more futurproof. And with PhysX HIGH at 1920x1080 the GTS450 is already used at ~50% when there is lots of physX in screen. A 9800GT or more is needed in this game for HIGH physx.
looking back at the cryostasis (2008), and current mafia 2 (2010) benchmarks (by link posted above), there isnt much difference using a better gpu compared to a mainstream one for physx, perhaps this wont change for the succeeding years so i guess its still better to get a 9600GT/GT 240 just for physx.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbww3dhzK0M&feature=player_embedded showing similar results as the OP posted, but uses newer cards, again it showed a trend that regardless of how much powerful the card is, it still the same work for physx (just dont put a super old and slow 8600GTS on it lol)
In a hybrid setup (AMD+Nvidia) an 8600GT would do just as fine, since that card doesn't have to render 3D gfx, only Physx. Mafia II with my setup runs smooth with Physx on high (also Batman AA, ME and Metro 2033 are running smooth). 9600GT's are awesome cards. :banana:
I plugged in a 9800GTX along with my GTX580 to play Mafia II with full PhsyX. It was about 8fps faster, near 500W full load and took an extra 50W at idle. Decided its not worth it. I kept the damn thing for PhysX as well, doh!
Considering the difference in power between the PhysX cards and yet the lack of FPS difference, I think this just shows, as my suspicions have been, that PhysX SLI is extremely poorly coded and does not at all come close to utilising the full potential of the PhysX card. Whether this is Nvidia or the developers fault, I do not know.
a little off topic...but just out of curiosity why are you using such an extremely high voltage for 3.4ghz on a 950...you should be able to do that with stock volts.
from my testing it seems mafia2 is CPU bound.. faster the clock speed the better.. no matter what graphics settings (Apex always HIGH) tested with single GTX470 aswell as with the GTX470+ dedicated 9400GT for physx/apex.. with low cpu clocks the dedicated setup was slower than the single card..pritty much the same fps with overclocked cards.. its only when overclocking the CPU the real gains where seen the way physx is now, not alot of it is getting acclerated on the graphics card..most can only be done on the CPU.. and it seems the new Physx3.0 is even worse!
Sorry my english for estimating accurately the power consumption of the system while overclocking, because when overclock you have to increase vCore. My system Core i7 980X 3.3GHz ASUS GTX 580 ASUS 9600GT RAM 6GB Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Settings in Mafia II Play Chapter 8 only have GTX 580 Have GTX 580 + 9600GT dedicated GPU PhysX When you have one GPU, Mafia II is not using GPU for PhysX Clothing simulation, clothing simulation is running on CPU. APEX Particles and APEX Clothing effects are running on dedicated GPU. you can see: http://physxinfo.com/news/3892/mafia-ii-is-not-using-gpu-for-physx-cloth-simulation/
Its pretty hard to see any difference from the screenshot. Can you do another with the same size models on screen? I read the article and while its great that they show graphs, some proof would have been very useful. They have no comparison screenshots. What look like links to screenshots are blue underlined text only. For me its of little consequence, I finished the game over 1/2 a year ago. Might be handy for someone else though.